Fiend’s Embrace (spoilers)

[ericthecleric]

I’m running Fiend’s Embrace as a one-off starting next week, hopefully before running STAP. The item itself (Fiend’s Embrace) is quite interesting, and it might be cool if there was a link to STAP, so that it somehow grants increasing power with the wearer’s level (NOTE: don’t make it a legacy item, I thought those rules sucked):
For instance, the item starts of as an intelligent cloak that grants:
* +1 resistance bonus on all saves,
* +4 enhancement bonus to Intelligence, and
* Fire resistance 10.

At 17+ levels, perhaps it grants:
* +5 resistance bonus on all saves,
* +6 enhancement bonus to Intelligence, and
* Fire immunity.
Its mental abilities, ego, and other abilities should also improve; perhaps it even gains a special purpose.

Perhaps one of Malcanthet’s agents places the cloak somewhere earlier on (thus requiring a slight retrofitting, maybe in “Tides of Dread”- in the shrine with the Tooth of Ahazu- or somewhere in “The Lightless Depths” adventure). The PCs gain a useful item that grows with them, and it might even be of use- possibly as a bargaining chip- later on. Sound good to anyone?

[Wyatt Schlaufman]

ericthecleric wrote:

I’m running Fiend’s Embrace as a one-off starting next week, hopefully before running STAP. The item itself (Fiend’s Embrace) is quite interesting, and it might be cool if there was a link to STAP, so that it somehow grants increasing power with the wearer’s level (NOTE: don’t make it a legacy item, I thought those rules sucked):

For instance, the item starts of as an intelligent cloak that grants:
* +1 resistance bonus on all saves,
* +4 enhancement bonus to Intelligence, and
* Fire resistance 10.

At 17+ levels, perhaps it grants:
* +5 resistance bonus on all saves,
* +6 enhancement bonus to Intelligence, and
* Fire immunity.
Its mental abilities, ego, and other abilities should also improve; perhaps it even gains a special purpose.

Perhaps one of Malcanthet’s agents places the cloak somewhere earlier on (thus requiring a slight retrofitting, maybe in “Tides of Dread”- in the shrine with the Tooth of Ahazu- or somewhere in “The Lightless Depths” adventure). The PCs gain a useful item that grows with them, and it might even be of use- possibly as a bargaining chip- later on. Sound good to anyone?

I've actually done something similar for STAP. I've given each character a "Destiny" item that increases with power as they do, since legacy items just plain suck.

Maybe Olangru could have fiend's embrace? Perhaps he was exiled for stealing it from Demogorgon's personal collection, which means it could have valuable information about the Demon Prince later on. It seems slightly more organic and subtle than Malcanthet planting TWO powerful items in a well gaurded collection.

Good luck with your campaign!

Wyatt

[Steve Greer]

Very cool idea, Ericthecleric. The synergy is not lost on me ;)

Here's a suggestion and it's a SPOILER so please don't read any further if you are a player. Thanks.

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When we (Gary and I) wrote our manuscript for Tides of Dread there was a lot of input from Eric Boyd and Richard Pett as far as connecting their adventures to the point in time when the PCs reach the shrine of Zotzilaha; namely, the Tooth of Ahazu was what linked them. When the PCs found it in the original draft it was wrapped in a leather cloth with a strange diagram inscribed on it.

The diagram part was not kept, however, you could easily have the Tooth wrapped in Fiend's Embrace and perhaps use it to communicate cryptic messages to them every once in a while. Exactly who is sending the messages is up to you. You could even have odd patterns appear on the inside of the cloak to aid them in finding their way to certain key areas you want to make sure they don't miss. Without giving away stuff I shouldn't talk about yet, I'll leave it at that.

Also, there has been mention that the PCs will need to make some unlikely allies in the later adventures - possibly Orcus, Grazz't, even Iggwilv. In the latter case, remember that Fiend's Embrace is trying to return to its master, Iggwilv. Perhaps Iggwilv has set some plans of her own in motion and intends full well for the cloak to bring the PCs to her. Why she wants them to come to her could be a really interesting subject to develop and who knows? It may actually tie in quite well to the adventure she actually makes an appearance in (assuming she appears in print, at all, of course).

[Aureus]

Are you talking about the rumored intelligent item of STAP? :)

[ericthecleric]

> Are you talking about the rumored intelligent item of STAP? :)
Aureus, I didn’t know that there is a rumor about intelligent item of STAP! No, I needed an adventure to run as a one-off, and I’d thought that Steve’s adventure might fit the bill. What with reading the item’s description, and James Jacobs saying on one of these threads that Iggwilv will appear somewhere later on, I thought that it’d be cool to include it in STAP- it should to some interesting situations, particularly if the cloak dominates a player… :-)
> Very cool idea, Ericthecleric. The synergy is not lost on me ;)

Steve, thanks for the kudos. I like the idea of the tooth wrapped in the cloak. It raises some interesting questions- like the players might think “How the heck did THAT get there?” I also really like the idea of it passing information on somehow.
I’ve decided that, because it’s unlikely there’ll be a wizard in the group, that the ability score bonus should be one that shifts to what the wearer would find most useful, eg. Charisma for a sorcerer, Strength for most fighters, etc.
And as it’s wearer grows in power, so should the item’s mental ability scores. It’ll be quite fun designing it’s other special features, which it might occasionally use to aid the PC’s foes… :-) However, it won’t make the wearer invisible when put on or stop the wearer aging; nor will it have strange letters appear if thrown in a fire… ;-) One cloak to rule them all…

I also like Wyatt’s idea of Olangru having it, so I’ll have to think about where best to place it. But, at 26,500 gp (unmodifier) value, it's at 12th/13th level or so that a PC could own it without the item being too powerful.

[ericthecleric]

Here’s the advancement I decided for Fiend’s Embrace throughout the STAP campaign. I had designed it in an Excel format, but it wouldn’t all fit on the Paizo page, so I’ve done it as follows (remember that it’ll be found by the PCs in Tides of Dread):

Level 9: Int + Cha 14 (speaks 3 languages + telepathy with wielder; 120’ vision and hearing); Knowledge (arch. & eng.) 10 ranks; +1 resistance bonus to saves; EGO score 5 (7); GP Value 8,500

Level 10: Int + Cha 14 (as above); Knowledge (arch. & eng.) 10 ranks; +1 resistance bonus to saves; +2 enhancement bonus to ability score; EGO score 6 (8); GP Value 11,900

Level 11 & 12: Int + Cha 15 (as above); Knowledge (arch. & eng.) 10 ranks; +1 resistance bonus to saves; +2 enhancement bonus to ability score; Cure Moderate Wounds on wearer 3/day; EGO score 7 (9); GP Value 17,425

Level 13: Int + Cha 15 (as above); Knowledge (arch. & eng.) 10 ranks; +1 resistance bonus to saves; +4 enhancement bonus to ability score; Cure Moderate Wounds on wearer 3/day; EGO score 9 (11); GP Value 27,625

Level 14: Int + Cha 15 (as above); Knowledge (arch. & eng.) 10 ranks; +1 resistance bonus to saves; +4 enhancement bonus to ability score; Fire Resistance 10; Cure Moderate Wounds on wearer 3/day; EGO score 9 (11); GP Value 37,825

Level 15: Int + Cha 16 (as above, can also read spoken languages; 60’ darkvision and hearing); Knowledge (arch. & eng.) 10 ranks; +3 resistance bonus to saves; +4 enhancement bonus to ability score; Fire Resistance 10; Cure Moderate Wounds on wearer 6/day; EGO score 12 (16); GP Value 51,850

Level 16: Int + Cha 16 (as above); Knowledge (arch. & eng.) 10 ranks; +3 resistance bonus to saves; +4 enhancement bonus to ability score; Fire Resistance 20; Cure Moderate Wounds on wearer 6/day; EGO score 12 (16); GP Value 65,450

Level 17: Int + Cha 18 (as above, read magic ability, and telepathy with others; 120’ darkvision, blindsense, and hearing); Knowledge (arch. & eng.) 10 ranks; +3 resistance bonus to saves; +6 enhancement bonus to ability score; Fire Resistance 20; Cure Moderate Wounds on wearer 6/day; EGO score 18 (22); GP Value 87,550

Level 18: Int + Cha 18 (as above); Knowledge (arch. & eng., the planes) both 10 ranks; +4 resistance bonus to saves; +6 enhancement bonus to ability score; Fire Resistance 20; +3 deflection bonus to AC; Cure Moderate Wounds on wearer 6/day; EGO score 22 (28); GP Value 113,050

Level 19: Int + Cha 18 (as above); Knowledge (arch. & eng., the planes) both 10 ranks; +4 resistance bonus to saves; +6 enhancement bonus to ability score; Fire Resistance 30; +4 deflection bonus to AC; Cure Moderate Wounds on wearer 6/day; EGO score 23 (29); GP Value 138,550

Level 20: Int + Cha 18 (as above); Knowledge (arch. & eng., the planes) both 10 ranks; +5 resistance bonus to saves; +6 enhancement bonus to ability score; Fire Resistance 30; +5 deflection bonus to AC; Cure Moderate Wounds on wearer 6/day; EGO score 24 (31); GP Value 161,500

At levels 9-17, Fiend’s Embrace gives -1 negative level to non-evil wearers
At levels 18+, Fiend’s Embrace gives -2 negative levels to non-evil wearers
In Ego battles, the resistance bonus to saves does not apply, and becomes a penalty instead! (Incorporating the cloak’s negative level(s), this effectively leads to the bracketed Ego scores.
The ability score bonus depends on the wearer; for instance, it might boost Strength for a warrior, Intelligence for a wizard, or Constitution for any wearer. I’ve left it undetermined so that the bonus benefits the wearer as appropriate.
The cloak decides when to use the Cure Moderate Wounds ability, not the wearer. I was thinking of changing it to masochism or sadism (both from Book of Vile Darkness) usable once per day or twice per day at higher levels.

Opinions, anyone?

[Eric Boyd]

So, for what's it worth, the original idea was that the tooth would be wrapped in a cloth inscribed with the symbol of Ahazu the vestige. If you figure out what it is, this makes it much easier to figure out what to inscribe on the Well of Ahazu to open it up.

--Eric